Gabriela Youth leads lightning protest vs Chacha

DAYS leading up to International Working Women’s Day 2024, Gabriela Youth, alongside militant youth groups, troop the gates of Malacañang Palace in a lightning protest to express their opposition against the looming Charter Change of the US-Marcos regime.

“With the worsening socio-economic and political crises, what women need isn’t another sham policy only serving the interests of foreigners and the Marcos family. Along with other youth groups and the broad masses, we have been demanding the Marcos administration to put utmost priority for basic social services, job opportunities and security, protection of human rights, and defense of our sovereignty instead of Chacha. The Chacha proposed by Marcos Jr. to the tune of the imperialist’s agenda will never be danced to by Filipino women!”, Gabriela Youth Spox Ganal declared.

From the proposals in both the Senate and House of Representatives, it is noteworthy to see that the liberalisation of ownership of educational institutions is part of the amendments.

“As the spectre of Charter Change looms under the administration of Marcos Jr., concerns mount regarding the perilous proposition of liberalising ownership of educational institutions to foreign entities. The potential consequences of such a move could irreversibly undermine the integrity and autonomy of our educational system. We have long fought for free and quality education in our state universities. The threats of removing it, and now the youth won’t back down in defending our educational institutions. We won’t let foreign corporations take over the education system,” Ganal reiterated.

Under the current administration, there have been multiple cases of human rights violations including the abuse of women and children by state agents.

“The state perpetuates this neoliberal ideology that violence against women is merely gender-based violence, yet it is apparent that the state itself is a perpetrator of women’s oppression. Marcos, alongside his cronies, preserves the status quo that benefits the ruling class only. We must remember that violence against women are manifestations of the hegemonic social structures that directly affect the realities of women everywhere.”, said Ganal. /